Centro studi Nicolò Rusca
DIOCESAN ARCHIVE
:
BAPTISMS DATABASE
This page makes it possible to search the database containing information regarding the baptism registers of
the parishes of Cattedrale, San Fedele and San Donnino in Como (as well as the ancient parish united with them)
between 1830 and 1866.
The database: chronological span and territorial scopes
[By Rolando Fasana and Mariangela Sempio]
The year 1866 was the period in which the civil births, marriages and deaths register was initiated for the newly established Kingdom of Italy; previously only information related to sacramental events was registered (baptisms, marriages, confirmations, and state of spirits), which were produced by the individual parishes starting from the second half of the 16th century, according to the orders of the Council of Trent [1]. Alongside this, during the 19th century, particularly from the Restoration to Italian Unification, for the regions of the North, including the Lombard Veneto Realm (of which Como was part), a civil register of births, marriages and deaths also existed, as required by the government, and responsibility for maintaining it was delegated to the parish priest. Therefore, we have double sets of historic resources available, which are essentially overlapping, although there are some differences in contents due to the different reasons for recording this information. Whereas the ecclesiastical registers note the baptisms celebrated in a given parish in a given year, the civil registers, on the other hand, contain the births that took place in the same parish in the same year. Therefore, where the ecclesiastical register notes the baptism of an adult convert, the civil register omits it. Likewise the latter contains the births of Jews, Protestants, Anglicans..., who, on the contrary, were not baptized. There are also intrinsic differences: as a rule the ecclesiastical certificate provides general information on the parents (including their ancestors), the date and place of their marriage (if the union was legitimate), general information on the godparents and their origins. The civil register, in addition to the aforementioned information, contains information on the profession and domicile of both the newborn's parents and sometimes the godparents as well. It also indicates the midwife present at the birth and the religious faith. It also provides supplementary annotations, for example, in cases of the premature death of the infant; or whether the child was from the city orphanage; any subsequent marriages; and the variation, addition or change in the surname in accordance with the law.
The examined documentation is significant and irreplaceable, to be protected even by way of an initial, basic mass saving of the data contained therein, which is a rich source for the history of the city's population.
It has been decided to begin the investigation from the walled city of Como, for various reasons: it is a circumscribed area, the sources of which are all preserved in one archive (at the Collegiate Church of San Fedele), paradigmatic of the city's history (especially in the case where this work is able to extend itself in the future to identify the state of affairs in the 16th century) and already analyzed recently by historians Fabio Cani (I nomi della città), Matteo Gianoncelli and Stefano Della Torre (Microanalisi di una città. Proprietà e uso delle case della Città Murata di Como dal Cinquecento all'Ottocento, Como, New Press, 1984).
The sources above, which refer therefore to the area of the walled city and the years between 1830 - 1866, are those produced by the three parishes that comprised said territory at that time: Cattedrale, San Fedele and San Donnino. This situation was followed by subsequent reorganizations and adjustments in the parish jurisdiction, starting from 1788, the year in which the "new parish system" was introduced with the decree of the Government Council (16 gennaio 1788) [2]. This order reduced the parish of the City, Borghi e Corpi santi to ten, limiting those of the City to four, through the suppression of numerous ancient parishes. The reorganization concluded in 1805, when by way of a Napoleonic decree, the parishes of the city centre were reduced to three with the cessation of Sant'Eusebio and its unification with Cattedrale. The situation that was determined, and which lasted in the period investigated by us, therefore saw the three aforementioned parishes take over and unite with numerous suppressed parishes, transforming them into branch churches: Sant'Eusebio [3], San Nazzaro, San Giacomo and San Provino united in the Cattedrale parish; San Sisto[4], as well as the Gesù Church[5], united in the parish of San Fedele[6]; and the church of Santa Cecilia[7] in the parish of San Donnino.
From the urban point of view the territorial division of the three parishes witnessed a greater extension for the district of the parish of Santa Maria Maggiore, followed by the parishes of San Fedele and San Donnino [8].
In following we provide a summary of the toponymy and the limits of the territory of the individual parishes, under the guidance of a Cisalpine government document of 1788 which redefined the limits of the city's parish districts, which we adapted following the suppression of the parish of Sant'Eusebio in 1806, the neighbourhoods of which were distributed amongst the parish of Cattedrale and San Donnino. This situation is also valid for the period indicated by us, except for urban increases, and therefore in toponymy and civic numbering, which occurred naturally over the period that past from the writing of the document [9].
view the table
Statistical notes
In the period we examined, which covers a span of 37 years, between 1830 and 1866 including the latter year, the urban territory that was just described registered approximately 10,300 births, with an annual average of 275.7 units, distributed as follows: 151 in the Cattedrale parish, 82.3 in the San Fedele parish and 43.2 in the San Donnino parish. It can be inferred that more than half of the statistical population was comprised of births in the Cattedrale parish (54.6 %), approximately one-third in the San Fedele parish (29.8 %) and the remaining in the San Donnino parish (15.6 %).
As far as regards the sex of the statistical sample, 50.9% were male and 49.1% were female; more precisely, the annual average of the former was approximately 140 units, compared to 135 for the latter, with a positive male balance of 5 units and a male-female percentage ratio of 105 to 100 (like the historic demographic average).
From the examined sources it is possible to identify the rate of infant mortality, or premature death between the ages of 0 and 15, although in an approximate manner. In the considered period this figure totalled 1056 units. In relation to the number of newborns, it is around 10.25 % and the premature death of males totalled 962 units compared to 94 for females (or rather 91.1 % of premature deaths).
view the graphic
The inputting of the data: the criteria
The database is made up of the collection of birth certificates assigned a record (a File Maker record). This record is the elaboration of the historical information indicated in the two types of sources described above, taken from the baptism certificate and integrated with the civil birth certificate. For every birth certificate the following information is provided: the place, day, month and year of the birth and baptism; general information on the parents - with the associated ancestors, domicile, place, date of marriage and profession if specified; general information on the godparents - with the same items indicated for the parents; the indication of the minister who gave the sacrament and the midwife who assisted with the birth. Alongside this ordinary information it is possible to complete the record with other variables that sometimes refer to the premature death of the newborn, for example, or his/her subsequent marriage or his/her status as illegitimate (or rather if conceived by adulterers or unmarried persons); there is also a wide range of annotations regarding, for example, the presence of attachments, extracts, subsequent additions and spelling errors in the text, various types of deterioration in the hard copy record etc.
As far as regards the transcription of the texts, we followed the usual, main criteria for written works [10], in particular: the use of square brackets [] for our reading suggestions; the use of angled brackets <> for the integration of certain words; the use of rounded brackets () for critical annotations to the text.
Since this is a database listed by name, particular attention was given to the individual surnames and their variations or misrepresentations, seeking groups derived from the same family; the groups of surnames were created by reuniting all of the variants of a surname identified in the certificates; these are therefore the probable and possible variations in reference to the analyzed statistical population. These, therefore, do not have an absolute or finite value but are intended as derived from the temporal and geographic space considered here.
For variations we have included diverse linguistic forms, even those that occurred from individual or repeated spelling errors of the person writing the documents, which nevertheless in the text take on a confirmed and evident meaning in the text (for example, Gusmeo-Gusmea, Tettamanti-Tetamanti-Tettamanzi-Tetamanzi).
As far as regards the topographical indications or more generally the geographic ones, we followed the criteria of sector publications, making extensive use of initials and abbreviations. Above all, we should specify that the places indicated in the certificates have been rendered in modern parlance, as have their geopolitical situation (autonomous municipality or unification of various municipalities, province of belonging, etc.). It follows that the places have been inserted respecting the current hierarchies: if there is a place that is now an autonomous municipality, it is written followed by the initials of the province of belonging ex.: Cernobbio= Cernobbio (CO); if there is a place that now is a hamlet of an autonomous municipality, it is inserted followed by the municipality and the province to which it belongs, ex: Casnedo= Casnedo (Cernobbio-CO); in the case of a foreign location, the initials of the country of belonging have been inserted, ex.: Saint'Etienne = Saint'Etienne (FRA).
For the city of Como, we have two types of toponymic indications, one derived from the Teresian cadastre and one referring to the parish subdivision; and, therefore, when the title of the parish is not accompanied by the complete topographic indication, its location in the city of Como is implicit, ex. Parish of San Fedele stands for Como, parish of San Fedele.
Within this database are some sectoral ones: one for parish priests - integrated with searches in the volumes of Como Sacra (1822-1912) - and a second one for midwives.
notes
The database: chronological span and territorial scopes
[By Rolando Fasana and Mariangela Sempio]
The year 1866 was the period in which the civil births, marriages and deaths register was initiated for the newly established Kingdom of Italy; previously only information related to sacramental events was registered (baptisms, marriages, confirmations, and state of spirits), which were produced by the individual parishes starting from the second half of the 16th century, according to the orders of the Council of Trent [1]. Alongside this, during the 19th century, particularly from the Restoration to Italian Unification, for the regions of the North, including the Lombard Veneto Realm (of which Como was part), a civil register of births, marriages and deaths also existed, as required by the government, and responsibility for maintaining it was delegated to the parish priest. Therefore, we have double sets of historic resources available, which are essentially overlapping, although there are some differences in contents due to the different reasons for recording this information. Whereas the ecclesiastical registers note the baptisms celebrated in a given parish in a given year, the civil registers, on the other hand, contain the births that took place in the same parish in the same year. Therefore, where the ecclesiastical register notes the baptism of an adult convert, the civil register omits it. Likewise the latter contains the births of Jews, Protestants, Anglicans..., who, on the contrary, were not baptized. There are also intrinsic differences: as a rule the ecclesiastical certificate provides general information on the parents (including their ancestors), the date and place of their marriage (if the union was legitimate), general information on the godparents and their origins. The civil register, in addition to the aforementioned information, contains information on the profession and domicile of both the newborn's parents and sometimes the godparents as well. It also indicates the midwife present at the birth and the religious faith. It also provides supplementary annotations, for example, in cases of the premature death of the infant; or whether the child was from the city orphanage; any subsequent marriages; and the variation, addition or change in the surname in accordance with the law.
The examined documentation is significant and irreplaceable, to be protected even by way of an initial, basic mass saving of the data contained therein, which is a rich source for the history of the city's population.
It has been decided to begin the investigation from the walled city of Como, for various reasons: it is a circumscribed area, the sources of which are all preserved in one archive (at the Collegiate Church of San Fedele), paradigmatic of the city's history (especially in the case where this work is able to extend itself in the future to identify the state of affairs in the 16th century) and already analyzed recently by historians Fabio Cani (I nomi della città), Matteo Gianoncelli and Stefano Della Torre (Microanalisi di una città. Proprietà e uso delle case della Città Murata di Como dal Cinquecento all'Ottocento, Como, New Press, 1984).
The sources above, which refer therefore to the area of the walled city and the years between 1830 - 1866, are those produced by the three parishes that comprised said territory at that time: Cattedrale, San Fedele and San Donnino. This situation was followed by subsequent reorganizations and adjustments in the parish jurisdiction, starting from 1788, the year in which the "new parish system" was introduced with the decree of the Government Council (16 gennaio 1788) [2]. This order reduced the parish of the City, Borghi e Corpi santi to ten, limiting those of the City to four, through the suppression of numerous ancient parishes. The reorganization concluded in 1805, when by way of a Napoleonic decree, the parishes of the city centre were reduced to three with the cessation of Sant'Eusebio and its unification with Cattedrale. The situation that was determined, and which lasted in the period investigated by us, therefore saw the three aforementioned parishes take over and unite with numerous suppressed parishes, transforming them into branch churches: Sant'Eusebio [3], San Nazzaro, San Giacomo and San Provino united in the Cattedrale parish; San Sisto[4], as well as the Gesù Church[5], united in the parish of San Fedele[6]; and the church of Santa Cecilia[7] in the parish of San Donnino.
From the urban point of view the territorial division of the three parishes witnessed a greater extension for the district of the parish of Santa Maria Maggiore, followed by the parishes of San Fedele and San Donnino [8].
In following we provide a summary of the toponymy and the limits of the territory of the individual parishes, under the guidance of a Cisalpine government document of 1788 which redefined the limits of the city's parish districts, which we adapted following the suppression of the parish of Sant'Eusebio in 1806, the neighbourhoods of which were distributed amongst the parish of Cattedrale and San Donnino. This situation is also valid for the period indicated by us, except for urban increases, and therefore in toponymy and civic numbering, which occurred naturally over the period that past from the writing of the document [9].
view the table
Statistical notes
In the period we examined, which covers a span of 37 years, between 1830 and 1866 including the latter year, the urban territory that was just described registered approximately 10,300 births, with an annual average of 275.7 units, distributed as follows: 151 in the Cattedrale parish, 82.3 in the San Fedele parish and 43.2 in the San Donnino parish. It can be inferred that more than half of the statistical population was comprised of births in the Cattedrale parish (54.6 %), approximately one-third in the San Fedele parish (29.8 %) and the remaining in the San Donnino parish (15.6 %).
As far as regards the sex of the statistical sample, 50.9% were male and 49.1% were female; more precisely, the annual average of the former was approximately 140 units, compared to 135 for the latter, with a positive male balance of 5 units and a male-female percentage ratio of 105 to 100 (like the historic demographic average).
From the examined sources it is possible to identify the rate of infant mortality, or premature death between the ages of 0 and 15, although in an approximate manner. In the considered period this figure totalled 1056 units. In relation to the number of newborns, it is around 10.25 % and the premature death of males totalled 962 units compared to 94 for females (or rather 91.1 % of premature deaths).
view the graphic
The inputting of the data: the criteria
The database is made up of the collection of birth certificates assigned a record (a File Maker record). This record is the elaboration of the historical information indicated in the two types of sources described above, taken from the baptism certificate and integrated with the civil birth certificate. For every birth certificate the following information is provided: the place, day, month and year of the birth and baptism; general information on the parents - with the associated ancestors, domicile, place, date of marriage and profession if specified; general information on the godparents - with the same items indicated for the parents; the indication of the minister who gave the sacrament and the midwife who assisted with the birth. Alongside this ordinary information it is possible to complete the record with other variables that sometimes refer to the premature death of the newborn, for example, or his/her subsequent marriage or his/her status as illegitimate (or rather if conceived by adulterers or unmarried persons); there is also a wide range of annotations regarding, for example, the presence of attachments, extracts, subsequent additions and spelling errors in the text, various types of deterioration in the hard copy record etc.
As far as regards the transcription of the texts, we followed the usual, main criteria for written works [10], in particular: the use of square brackets [] for our reading suggestions; the use of angled brackets <> for the integration of certain words; the use of rounded brackets () for critical annotations to the text.
Since this is a database listed by name, particular attention was given to the individual surnames and their variations or misrepresentations, seeking groups derived from the same family; the groups of surnames were created by reuniting all of the variants of a surname identified in the certificates; these are therefore the probable and possible variations in reference to the analyzed statistical population. These, therefore, do not have an absolute or finite value but are intended as derived from the temporal and geographic space considered here.
For variations we have included diverse linguistic forms, even those that occurred from individual or repeated spelling errors of the person writing the documents, which nevertheless in the text take on a confirmed and evident meaning in the text (for example, Gusmeo-Gusmea, Tettamanti-Tetamanti-Tettamanzi-Tetamanzi).
As far as regards the topographical indications or more generally the geographic ones, we followed the criteria of sector publications, making extensive use of initials and abbreviations. Above all, we should specify that the places indicated in the certificates have been rendered in modern parlance, as have their geopolitical situation (autonomous municipality or unification of various municipalities, province of belonging, etc.). It follows that the places have been inserted respecting the current hierarchies: if there is a place that is now an autonomous municipality, it is written followed by the initials of the province of belonging ex.: Cernobbio= Cernobbio (CO); if there is a place that now is a hamlet of an autonomous municipality, it is inserted followed by the municipality and the province to which it belongs, ex: Casnedo= Casnedo (Cernobbio-CO); in the case of a foreign location, the initials of the country of belonging have been inserted, ex.: Saint'Etienne = Saint'Etienne (FRA).
For the city of Como, we have two types of toponymic indications, one derived from the Teresian cadastre and one referring to the parish subdivision; and, therefore, when the title of the parish is not accompanied by the complete topographic indication, its location in the city of Como is implicit, ex. Parish of San Fedele stands for Como, parish of San Fedele.
Within this database are some sectoral ones: one for parish priests - integrated with searches in the volumes of Como Sacra (1822-1912) - and a second one for midwives.
notes
[1] In addition to this, however, for the brief period of the French domination (1796-1814) the civil
register for births, marriages and deaths was activated, which is incomplete and currently deposited with the State Archive of Como.
[2] ASDC, Titolo VIII, Piano di sistemazione delle parrocchie della città e della diocesi (1788), map 1. The last transformation of the parish jurisdiction dates back to 1991, when the three parishes of San Fedele, Santa Maria Assunta (or Cattedrale) and San Donnino were united in the "pastoral community of the walled city of Como", to which the parish of Sant'Eusebio was recently added.
[3] The parish of Sant'Eusebio was suppressed by the Napoleonic decree dated 24 June 1805, and on 4 November 1806 Mons. Rovelli Bishop of Como decreed the unification with the Cattedrale parish. Finally, on 1 January 1931 the parish of Sant'Eusebio was restablished by decree. Compare La risorta parrocchia di S. Eusebio in Como al primo prevosto cav. don Giovanni Bay Rossi nel giorno del suo ingresso 18 dicembre 1832, Como, Emo Cavalleri, 1932.
[4] The church of San Sisto was deconsecrated and sold in 1866. Up until 1811 - the year of the alienation of the building to private individuals -the parish of San Fedele was also home to the church of San Benedetto, deconsecrated at the beginning of the 19th century and transformed in 1873 into a civil building, for which the parish registers are still preserved (up to the suppression in 1788) in the Archive of the Collegiate Church of San Fedele.
[5] The church of Saints Amanzio and Felice, or the Gesù Church, built by the Jesuits in the second half of the 16th century, after the suppression of the aforementioned Order became a branch of the parish of San Fedele and remained such until 1898.
[6] In the registers of the Cattedrale parish sometimes there are references to the Episcopal chapel of San Michele Arcangelo, where mostly confirmations and particular ceremonies were celebrated, such as abjures from other religions.
[7] Subsidiary church, previously part of the monastry of the Agostinians of Santa Cecilia who, following the 18th century suppression, was transformed into the Royal Liceo.
[8] From the District of the parishes of the Metropolitan area and City of Como of 1788 in ASDC, Titolo VIII, Piano di sistemazione delle parrocchie della città e della diocesi (1788), map. 1.
[9] For the ancient toponymy of the city see Fabio Cani, I nomi della Città. Guida alla toponomastica antica della Città Murata di Como, Como, Nodolibri 1999.
[10] Compare Luigi Schiapparelli, Note paleografiche raccolte a cura di Giorgio Cencetti, Torino, Bottega d'Erasmo 1969; Giulio Battelli, Lezioni di paleografia, Città del Vaticano, Pontificia Scuola vaticana di Paleografia e Diplomatica 1939.
In the notes regarding parents and godparents, sometimes we find the word dominus or domina: we have decided to render with these expressions the indications d., dno (or rather) and d., dna. (or rather), which in the text are written as an honorary title.
Curiosity: in the register of San Donnino «Baptizati ab anno 1813 usque ad annum 1872», pg. 212 no. 23, we have found a particular name: Dominusvobiscum Dolcini di Como, godfather of the baptized child. In the register «Atti di nascita dall'aprile 1828 all'agosto 1842 vol.3 - 4» of the parish of San Fedele, certificate no. 180 table. 13, in the annotations is the phrase: "a questi toccava di pagare il capretto, ma non volle pagarlo".
[2] ASDC, Titolo VIII, Piano di sistemazione delle parrocchie della città e della diocesi (1788), map 1. The last transformation of the parish jurisdiction dates back to 1991, when the three parishes of San Fedele, Santa Maria Assunta (or Cattedrale) and San Donnino were united in the "pastoral community of the walled city of Como", to which the parish of Sant'Eusebio was recently added.
[3] The parish of Sant'Eusebio was suppressed by the Napoleonic decree dated 24 June 1805, and on 4 November 1806 Mons. Rovelli Bishop of Como decreed the unification with the Cattedrale parish. Finally, on 1 January 1931 the parish of Sant'Eusebio was restablished by decree. Compare La risorta parrocchia di S. Eusebio in Como al primo prevosto cav. don Giovanni Bay Rossi nel giorno del suo ingresso 18 dicembre 1832, Como, Emo Cavalleri, 1932.
[4] The church of San Sisto was deconsecrated and sold in 1866. Up until 1811 - the year of the alienation of the building to private individuals -the parish of San Fedele was also home to the church of San Benedetto, deconsecrated at the beginning of the 19th century and transformed in 1873 into a civil building, for which the parish registers are still preserved (up to the suppression in 1788) in the Archive of the Collegiate Church of San Fedele.
[5] The church of Saints Amanzio and Felice, or the Gesù Church, built by the Jesuits in the second half of the 16th century, after the suppression of the aforementioned Order became a branch of the parish of San Fedele and remained such until 1898.
[6] In the registers of the Cattedrale parish sometimes there are references to the Episcopal chapel of San Michele Arcangelo, where mostly confirmations and particular ceremonies were celebrated, such as abjures from other religions.
[7] Subsidiary church, previously part of the monastry of the Agostinians of Santa Cecilia who, following the 18th century suppression, was transformed into the Royal Liceo.
[8] From the District of the parishes of the Metropolitan area and City of Como of 1788 in ASDC, Titolo VIII, Piano di sistemazione delle parrocchie della città e della diocesi (1788), map. 1.
[9] For the ancient toponymy of the city see Fabio Cani, I nomi della Città. Guida alla toponomastica antica della Città Murata di Como, Como, Nodolibri 1999.
[10] Compare Luigi Schiapparelli, Note paleografiche raccolte a cura di Giorgio Cencetti, Torino, Bottega d'Erasmo 1969; Giulio Battelli, Lezioni di paleografia, Città del Vaticano, Pontificia Scuola vaticana di Paleografia e Diplomatica 1939.
In the notes regarding parents and godparents, sometimes we find the word dominus or domina: we have decided to render with these expressions the indications d., dno (or rather) and d., dna. (or rather), which in the text are written as an honorary title.
Curiosity: in the register of San Donnino «Baptizati ab anno 1813 usque ad annum 1872», pg. 212 no. 23, we have found a particular name: Dominusvobiscum Dolcini di Como, godfather of the baptized child. In the register «Atti di nascita dall'aprile 1828 all'agosto 1842 vol.3 - 4» of the parish of San Fedele, certificate no. 180 table. 13, in the annotations is the phrase: "a questi toccava di pagare il capretto, ma non volle pagarlo".
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